Number 46

God bless America

Today Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. His job will not be an easy one in light of the divisiveness our country has experienced, particularly in the last four years. For the first time we have a female Vice President, Kamala Harris, who is African-American and Indian-American. A lot of history was made today.

Everything about the inauguration was upbeat while at the same time not sugar-coating the fact that we are an America divided. The message was clear that there is much work to do, and that it will take all of us to make a difference in our country. 

I pray that the President and Vice President, along with all the elected officials, will be able to do their jobs bravely and peacefully. It will be interesting to see how Biden will approach the pandemic as the country has now exceeded 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus. He canceled most of the normal inauguration events due to the virus. But I have to admit that it was surprising to see the number of people gathered together at the Capitol Building for the ceremony, even though they were wearing masks. Hopefully it will not become a super-spreader event.

The first National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman perhaps captured most the temperature of the United States in the poem that she read at the inauguration. Entitled "The Hill We Climb", she began with the following:

"When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished." The poem is powerful, and you can read it in its entirety here. Such wise words from a young woman of 22. It will be interesting to follow her career.

God bless our country's leaders, and God bless America!